why, hello blog.

parang ang tagal ko nang di nagsusulat dito. was a bit caught up with school work. two and a half weeks are over, and things are beginning to get a bit hectic. we only have four major classes in the basic film program (which will run 'til april), but apparently, those are enough to keep us on our toes.

on mondays, we have photography with tom roa. i get confused on what to call him... Sir? or just Tom.... cuz he sits in in all the other classes to make sure that his lectures are in-tune with the other teachers', and he does the same work as the rest of class. so he's sort of like a classmate na din. funky noh? he reminds me so much of my kuya karlo. they talk the same way... they have that same know-how and passion for gadgets and techie stuff. they also have the same wit and humor. kakaaliw.

on tuesdays, we have motion picture language with maam abaya. we've been watching silent films by filmmakers who're considered the pioneers of this art. so far we've seen Einsenstein's Battleship of Potemkin, and Griffith's Birth of a Nation. i admit, there comes a point when you're watching silent films that your whole system just starts to tune out (medyo mahaba ata ang three hours for a silent film), but man... ang galing pala talaga ng mga 'to. i am particularly amazed at how they were able to come up with so much profundity in spite of all the limitations they had... simple cameras, available light, people on the street-turned-actors. these filmmakers didn't even have storyboards or written scripts of their work. they had the whole storyline in their heads! galing noh? really inspiring.

on wednesdays we have basic screenwriting with sir nestor torre. from the first time we met, he kept saying that he meant to push us to the best of our ability. he REALLY wasn't joking about that. i think he gives the most homework. today, for example, we're supposed to submit three things... one of which is a five minute script. i had no idea that writing for five minutes of film time could be so hard. it's so different from the usual writing i do (if you can even call it writing), which is often for paper, and not for screen. there's that unwritten requirement to be a little bit of a schizo eh. i think it's more of a talent than a sickness cuz it's not the easiest thing to play multiple characters in your heads and write out their mundane thoughts and ways. it becomes very tiring (and kinda ironic to some extent) to think of the most normal, natural things. either way, it's been good. i love how we're learning so much in this class.

on thursdays, we have production under maam abaya and her amazing protege, christian valles. during our last session, we got to witness how maam works at a shoot. we had an actual hot set demonstration and exercise. it was so cool. truly, nothing beats experiencing what you learn in the classroom. that is why i'm absolutely excited to shoot our own projects. our first production assignment is to write, shoot, and edit at least one silent film that's a minute long. our group, the Pustiso Productions (Films with a bite. *wink*) has decided to produce three, and we shoot the first one in alabang tonight. yeheeeeeeeeey! can you feel the tension??? LOVE IT!!!!


as you can see, things have been going really well. i never thought i'd say this, but man... i love school! heehee. i think the only (minor) drawback from all this is my decision to forego Once and Beauty and the Beast auditions. not that i was going to get in, anyway... but say that THAT one in a million chance of me getting in happened? i would be in an awful dilemma of choosing which to prioritize: film school or theatre. thing is, i don't think i've ever been this focused over something. and i kinda don't wanna mess that up. besides... i can't be in the fishbowl and watch the fish at the same time, now can i? *wink*


on that note, i shall go back to my screenwriting homework.... lah-deeh-dah.

George Carlin's Theory of Life

"The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. what do you get at the end of it? A death. What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch and you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities. You become a little baby, you go back into the womb, spend your last nine months floating... and you finish off as an orgasm."

thanks to Joy Yu for the insight. hehehe.
more power to Pustiso Productions! ;)

looking back with gratitude

things have been surreal since the year started. not that it's a bad thing. it actually feels good... 2005 has been good to me so far.

i got this text message from bianca lozada (gosh. can't believe she's married) the other day and she asked me how i was doing. told her about getting into APFI and said that "i've never been this happy since i left ateneo." i couldn't help but snicker at that statement... i've never been this happy since i left ateneo.

fact is, i was such a goody-goody kid back in high school. i was the responsible and focused girl who got high grades... who never drank or smoked... who was aaaalways obedient to her parents... who was insanely religious (and was even part of the school music ministry which sang for all the masses in school)... who was trusting and entirely optimistic about life. to most people, i was a perfect 17 year old, but THAT surprisingly distraught me. altho my teachers would continually assure me that I was this "potentially able soul", that just kinda bogged me down. i guess i felt that i was missing out on things... the usual "mistakes" the cooler, less-responsible kids my age made.

and so i looked forward to entering college. not that i had planned on making every single mistake possible, but i vowed to myself that i'd experience as much as i could while i had the chance. and i did... a little too much pa nga ata eh. experienced a lot of my firsts and a few of my lasts... heartaches... bliss... a LOT of fun... pressure... painful shit... it was a mixture of sorts that summed up to a rough ride. okay lang. i guess now that i think about it, i wouldn't have changed anything from those experiences, no matter how painful. i love how i've learned so much about people, about trusting and choosing your friends, and the blessing that is family. altho college may have been the "shallow" end of life, it was life nonetheless. i was happy living life.

when i left the university, life took a sudden halt. for about a year or two, i was in a rut... this really long depression stage that i honestly didn't think would recede. unlike my batchmates, the rut had nothing to do with being unemployed or in limbo. it was all about failing to recover from a certain trauma, which i didn't realize scarred me deeply til later on. it took a really long while for me to be okay... and heaven knows how glad i am to be where i am right now. okay. happy. content.

it's crazy how the littlest matters become more meaningful than the bigger ones... being part of Pansitan, for example... or finding out about APFI... or having my little nephews here at home. my last intent is to sound cheesy or charismatic, but i just have to say how thankful i am for the blessings that have been granted to me this year. it's just so cool how God works in mysterious ways.

shameless plug

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the healthy, happy family at the Clinic blessing

on kids today...

sundays have been fun since the baby boys came home last june. whether or not people got up on the right side of the bed, we all manage to smile the entire day cuz of them.
there's the usual wake-up call from either raphael or kael... "TITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! WAKE UP!!!!!! WE'RE GOING TO MAAAAAAAAAAAAASS!!!!!!!!!" which is guaranteed to get you out of bed no matter what. sluggishly, we go to church (it's always too hot to be in a good mood for mass), which has turned out to be a new and funny experience every time--always prepped just in case matthew starts to cry his lungs out... or raph and kael start a church-wide chase.
we head back home after for the sunday lunch--a feast that lasts two to three hours. it's not that we eat til eternity (which we usually do, anyway), but we just end up having conversations that last that long. the great thing about them is that EVERYONE gets a chance to talk... even the little tikes who have more to say than anyone else. it's bizarre, but also amazing. maybe because as a kid, i never joined in any of the table conversations. i always quietly listened to the debates-slash-LQs, jokes and anecdotes that were strangely funny, political issues i never really understood, et cetera. that was me. the powerless kid who said nothing (but my, have times changed... hehe.). it surprises me how a 3-year old today can have so much power over adults. today, for example... there was california maki for lunch (about 24 pieces)... and raphael, the sushi-lover, firmly ordered that noone else could touch them but himself. haha. tigas, noh? kakaiba. it's little things like that that make me wonder why i wasn't more assertive when i was a kid. i don't remember much from my childhood, but i remember being afraid all the time... over what, i'm not sure. i was just fearful. it was so strange. i think it had a lot to do with the whole kimberly thing...

ooh!!! since this entry has no central theme, let me digress to this infamous story...

the kimberly story

when i was about 5 or 6 years old, i had an imaginary friend named kimberly. even though i had five other siblings then, they were all too busy with their whole-day class skeds to play with me... thus, my need for company (whether or not it was with a real person). story has it that kimberly and i were inseparable. our favorite playtime spots were the main stairs and my mom's bathtub. noone was allowed to step on or walk over kimberly while we were playing with our sombreros on the stairs... or during my bath time, my siblings would hear me talking to thin air about how cold or hot the water was. not to mention, i always asked for two towels after--one for myself, and one for kimberly.

one night, during a party, i came inside the house crying hysterically to my ate raissa. she asked me why i was crying, and according to her, i said that, "kimberly left me. she asked me to go and jump over the wall with her, but that i couldn't come back to see you again. i told her i want to be with you and mom and dad... but she said i had to choose between her and you. i made her mad when i chose you. she said she won't come back ever again. i want her to come back..." freaked out with what i said, my sister gave me a bath (heaven knows why) and put me to sleep.

the days that followed were hell. my temperature suddenly shot up to 41, and wouldn't go any lower than 39. even after a number of visits to the hospital and the religious intake of medicines, our doctor had no idea what was wrong with me... why i was suffering from high fever, and why it didn't bother going down for two weeks straight. it was then when ate raissa gave me a piece of paper, some crayons, and asked me to draw kimberly, that they realized why the doctors' medicines weren't working on me. kimberly's feet, as i had drawn them, were pointy... like a dwarf's.

soon after, an old lady came to the house to make me "tawas." [pagtatawas is something like a healing rite performed by albularyos (medicine men/women or shamans) to identify the root cause of a sickness that is incurable by modern medicine.] the lady began the rite by dropping melted wax (she used this huge-ass candle) into a basin of water. she prayed over it, and like magic, the wax formed a shape of kimberly... who turned out to be a dwende. after identifying the source, the lady began to chant and massage my belly with minty-smelling oils. when i had fallen asleep, she went to the wall where i said kimberly jumped over and left some rice as an offering. the day after, my temperature went down to 37.

a year later, i entered Maryknoll (now known as Miriam). it was my first day as a grade one student. i remember coming home so happy that day, anxious to tell my mom everything that happened. i told her about "my wonderful classroom and homeroom teacher... the school that was so big... the cafeteria that sold really good food... and this one girl who became my instant best friend. her name's kimberly."

my mom froze, and at that moment, decided to send me to Poveda the following schoolyear.

hahahaha! how's THAT for a twist? :P

truth be told, i don't remember much from this experience. i remember how the old lady looked like and the smell of the oils she used on me. i remember the kimberly from my first grade class... her pigtails and weird freckles... but other than that... nothing. i only have the stories of my sisters and aunts and househelps to back up my little memory of kimberly and that pagtatawas experience. i don't even know if it really happened. a part of me wants to think that my family's just pulling my leg... but a bigger part tells me that once long ago, i did have that dwende of a friend who almost took me away from them (plus! it's kind of interesting to share the story with my friends and people who are fascinated by such things. heehee.).

i'm comforted by the fact that my nephews are constantly surrounded by us. i personally make it a point to be with them when their parents aren't around... not only to strengthen my bond with them... but to make sure that they won't have any reason to go looking for friends out of this world the way i did. :P

quickie lang

was doing my screenwriting homework (look for newspaper clippings that can be used as basis for screenwriting ideas) when i saw this funny little page spread...

it reads:

2005 THINGS WE WANT TO SEE MORE OF IN 2005

1000 more Super issues
250 more people like cherie gil, who survived and lived to tell the story to serve as an inspiration to the global community
199 more ashlee simpson slip-ups (more of the janet jackson ones too!)
145 liberal pills for the mtrcb
101 new songs from sugarfree, radioactive sago, project and bridge
96 more fete dela musiques around the country
77 more "get close to God" stickers
50 more megamall art galleries that showcase awesome stuff from emerging artists
39 more artists who writes their own songs
22 hours less air time from annoying dj duos slash chico & delamar copycats
15 films from brilliant directors like quark henares, mark meily, raymond red, and lav diaz
8 artists who do commercials for computer schools and are actually enrolled in them
2 new mtv vjs who will actually last
1 new book from melanie marquez
0 songs from yachang


i say HEAR, HEAR!
hehe.

on strange things and normal things

"unnatural selection"
currently researching on "ways to die" for a script idea i'm working on, and i found these bizarre/ironic celebrity deaths. check it...

• 453 AD, Attila the Hun: bled to death from a nosebleed on his wedding night.
• 1626, Sir Francis Bacon: pneumonia. He was experimenting with freezing a chicken by stuffing it with snow.
• 1893, Anthony J. Drexel III (philanthropist): shot himself accidentally while showing off a new gun in his collection to his friends.
• 1920, Alexander I of Greece (king of the Hellenes): died from blood poisoning after being bitten by his gardener's pet monkey.
• 1920, Raymond Johnson Chapman (Cleveland Indians baseball player): died one day after being struck in head by baseball pitch, becoming the only player ever killed as result of major league baseball game.
• 1927, Isadora Duncan (actress): accidental strangulation when her scarf caught in car wheel.
• 1941, Sherwood Anderson (writer) : after swallowing a toothpick at a cocktail party he died of peritonitis on an ocean liner bound for Brazil.
• 1955, James Dean: car crash.
  
• 1968, Albert Dekker (actor, California legislator): suffocated, hanging from shower curtain rod, handcuffed, wearing women's lingerie.
• 1983, Tennessee Williams (writer): choked to death on a on a nose spray bottle cap that accidentally dropped into his mouth while he was using the spray. He was 71.
• 1984, Jim Fixx (made jogging popular): died of a heart attack... while jogging.
• 1984, Jon-Erik Hexum (actor): playfully shot himself with a blank-loaded pistol on the set of TV spy show "Cover Up." The concussion forced a chunk of his skull into his brain; he died six days later.
• 1994, Jeffrey Dahmer (mass murderer): beaten to death with a broomstick by a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institute.

man. i think if i were to choose a pathetic way of dying, my death headline would state, "2005, Michaela Tatad (film student): was scared to death by house rats." simple, stupid, and realistic (pest control, we need you!).


legal sex
got this from aissa who procrastinates by researching on sex laws. bwahahaha.

• In Lebanon, men are legally allowed to have sex with animals, but the animals must be female. Having sexual relations with a male animal is punishable by death.
• In Bahrain, a male doctor may legally examine a woman's genitals, but is prohibited from looking directly at them during the examination. He may only see their reflection in a mirror.
• Muslims are banned from looking at the genitals of a corpse. This also applies to undertakers. The sex organs of the deceased must be covered with a brick or piece of wood at all times.
• The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is decapitation.
• In Singapore, oral sex is a criminal act. "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animals can be fined and jailed up to 10 years, or even for life."
• There are men in Guam whose full-time job is to travel the countryside and deflower young virgins, who pay them for the privilege of having sex for the first time. Reason: under Guam law, it is expressly forbidden for virgins to marry.
• In Hong Kong, a betrayed wife is legally allowed to kill her adulterous husband, but may only do so with her bare hands. The husband's lover, on the other hand, may be killed in any manner desired.
• In Cali, Colombia, a woman may only have sex with her husband, and the first time this happens, her mother must be in the room to witness the act.
• In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, it is illegal for a man to have sex with a woman and her daughter at the same time.

our world is just too strange.


and speaking of strange...
the strangest thing happened last night. i was watching this episode of The Simple Life (haha. so sue me.) where one of the girls' foster dads surprised his wife with a romantic candle-lit dinner in their tiny homecabin. all of a sudden... and for reasons so unpredictable... droplets of tears started to stream down my cheeks. I KNOW, RIGHT??? what was THAT about?!? garsh.

it was my first emotional exhibit since i got my period (oops. overshare? hehe). i think it was the damn candles that triggered unsolicited thoughts of how i used to be... sweet like that... mushy-gross... in love with the yucky-love-stuff that kept my past relationships on honeymoon mode for a really long time... how i simply believed in being in a relationship.

yeah... sadly, i am one of those traumatized souls who (thinks she) can't see herself in a serious relationship anymore. it's not that i've been in a lot. i just don't see it coming for me... or at least in the near future. most of the time i think, there're just too many issues to settle before i can open my doors to anyone else. other times i think, why bother when it's bound to end sooner or later, anyway. but deep down, i think... i just can't let myself get hurt again. just like anyone who's experienced the trauma of a bad relationship, i've resorted to MIND OVER MATTER, instead of my usual LISTEN TO YOUR HEART notion. it's kinda sad, now that i think about it. i consciously stop myself from liking anyone. oh gosh... worse than that... i stop myself from being liked by anyone... turn them off at the very start to keep them from getting any closer to me than six feet away. i'm weird that way. or more like secretly scared to death of getting involved.


ANYWAY.
off to normal, more productive news that don't concern my lacrimal ducts...

film school officially kicked off yesterday. had my first class under Tom Roa (photography). it was different from the photography class i took in UP last year, mainly because the class we're having now is an integration of film photography and digital photography. whether that's a good or bad thing is under deliberation. hehe. it was fun, tho. he showed us extravagant (a.k.a. really, really, REALLY expensive) equipment and samples of his work he's accumulated over his years of professional photography. grabe. siguro if i stole like a piece of his view camera, i'd be able to pay for the advanced course of film school. hahaha. ang tindi mehn.

already, we have shooting assignments for next week. we're supposed to submit a whole roll of film with specific subjects. it shouldn't be hard, but i'm nervous for some reason. oh well. we'll see how this one turns out.

tonight's class is motion picture language under direk marilou. i've always wanted to be under her, way back in ateneo pa. i practically killed left and right just to get a precious slot in any of her classes. unfortunately, i never made it to the cut. so you can imagine how this film school is exciting the balls out of me now. i mean, this woman is just fantastic. she's this awesome filmmaker (although she says that she'd rather be labelled as a "professional peacemaker" now) who has this overpowering presence, which, on its own, can inspire you. but just you wait... you wait til she opens her mouth and starts professing the art of film and of life. she's a treasure chest, man. everything that comes out of her is this valuable piece that's meant to stick in your head and heart forever (cliche as that may sound). more than that, i think the best thing about her is that she is the most caring and down-to-earth "mother" anyone can have. as in. it feels so good to think that i'll be learning the ropes of film from someone as great her.

on that note, i shall take my shower and head to class. have plans to meet up with red after. he was home for the holidays, but is leaving already for new york on sunday. sadness once again. *sigh*

the best of the worst

decided to (do a late) recap the worst year of my life by picking out "highlight" entries from volume one. grabe... 2004 really lacked good luck and productivity. i can't wait for 2005 to make it up to me. heehee!

*warning to readers: was emotionally pathetic all-year round.

february

• campaign begins
• yaddah yaddah yaddah

march

• affinity
• watta watta week
• i'm on MTV!!!
• ginebra can kill

april

• UBC highs and lows
• on tycooning
• wishes

may

• shangri-la weekend: campaign ends
• the exes get-together
• filmmaker wannabe on the prowl

june

• the "gaguhan" begins
• feeling below zero (violent commentaries included)
• lessons in life
• the june 20 milestone

july

• life's a bitch and so we die...
• "this is really is it..."

august

• a night of lies and deception...
• guess who's back
• red leaves for NY

september

• the southborder concert
• the US trip with dad: early highlights
• the weekend

october

• US trip recap

november

• the big 2-3!
• the AB party

december

• at FPJ's wake
• ho-ho-ho!

and with that, we end 2004. i am really happy it's over. let's go 2005!!! let's make things happen! wohooooo!!!!

mabuhay, pansitan!

just want to thank ate sienna for allowing me to be part of the Pansitan community. it may not be the most life-altering opportunity (or maybe it is... who knows...), but it surely made my week. after all, it's these simple things that make me really happy. hehe.

MARAMING SALAMAT, ATE SIENNA!

devastation...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
THIS can't be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *sob*


... and while we're on the topic of brad pitt and devastation... did anyone else feel disappointed after watching Ocean's 12? hay. maybe i expected more than i usually do over a sequel, but who could blame me? ONE, it was directed by soderbergh. TWO, it had a powerhouse cast. AND THREE, it was friggin OCEAN'S TWELVE!!! it was supposed to be awesome!!!

paano naman... ocean's 11 was a fantastic film. the heist was brilliant and well-planned. the treatment was absolutely classic. the comedy was amazing. ang galing. it was "a ride," as matt damon would say. you'd take a seat at the beginning of the movie... and you can't help but get caught up in the story.

ocean's 12, on the other hand, was overly complicated, unnatural, and in all honesty, a bit ridiculous. the development of the story took FOREVER to build up. i mean... they had this countdown detail ("6 days til deadline... 3 days til deadline.." type of thing) that was supposed to show ANY KIND of progress right? but wala. it was frustrating. it's like... they tried too hard to have the audience at the edge of their seats until the last minute, that it came out... kinduv blah.

another thing that MAJORLY bothered me was the picture quality of the whole movie. ocean's 11's film quality was excellent... very glossy, very deep in colors... very brilliant and beautiful. but in ocean's 12, it was like... soderbergh used my miniDV camera to record the whole euro-tour or something. it kinda looked cheap. even if he intended a different style for the movie... mala-independent film... i found it unbecoming for a hundred-million-dollar-plus-plus-plus box office to look like that. it just wasn't consistent with the whole Ocean's 11 treatment, which was initially cool and glamorous.

anyhooooooooooow... since i am not devoid of humor and kwela... i have to say that it was a fun (and funny) movie. i thought the julia roberts bit was funny. hehehe. some found it really corny, but i totally cracked up during that surprise scene. in addition to the fun, i admit that the pretty faces and hot bodies ALMOST made up for my disappoinment. *sigh* brad pitt's still as gorgeous as ever. *sigh* and catherine zeta jones is "fasyon" to the max in this movie (imagine if those two really hit it off and had kids? kakaibang ganda siguro yon).

overall, it wasn't the movie i expected it to be. i was disappointed because i expected way too much. had i done without that, i would've probably enjoyed it more.

loving APFI

yesterday was one of the happier days of my life.

i was finally granted by my parents to attend ma'am marilou diaz abaya's new film school, the Asia Pacific Film Institute (YIKES-A-BEE!!!). and being the excited girl that i was, i got to the film compound along EDSA an hour before i was supposed to be there. heehee.

orientation began at 1 pm and was put together for all 25 students to meet their instructors for the coming schoolyear. it was such an overwhelming feeling, simply having greatness like ma'am marilou, jun reyes, mark meily, lee meily, laurice guillen, johnny delgado, nonong buencamino, tom roa, tara illenberger, nestor torre in the same freakin' room... as my professors!

SHAKE. A-DOO.

more so, robi joseph is a classmate. hehe! other than having red join us, nothing else tops that. :P

*so happy.*

thanks God!


it's ate er's birthday today. we plan on Ocean's 12-ing later (wahooooo!!!!), and then Red Box-ing after. hahaha. ought to be fun! :) happy birthday, ats!

48 questions

from gyeb's blog... :)


1.Like to walk in the rain?
love it.

2.Sleep with or without clothes on?
with.

3.Prefer black or blue pens?
black.

4.Like to travel?
uh huh! altho i haven't done much of it.

5.Like someone?
i like many people.

6.Does he/she know?
they better!

7.How?
because i tell them that i do...?

8.Sleep on your side?
sometimes... but mostly on my stomach.

9.Think you're attractive?
erhm... not at the moment. :P

10.Want to marry?
eventually... :)

11.Who?
the one. (duh.)

12.Alaska or Hawaii?
hawaii!

13.Are you a good student?
i was. haha!

15.Are you involved in sports?
i was. :P but i plan to get active again.

16.Christmas or Halloween?
herm... christmas. the gifts and costumes are better. :P

17.Colored or black-and-white photo?
black and white.

18.Do you think long distance relationships work?
they could... but it's not for everybody.

19. Do you believe in astrology?
yup!

20.Do you believe in God?
yes.

21.Do you believe in love at first sight?
not at all.

22.Do you consider yourself the life of the party?
not anymore. wahahaha. i'm such a killjoy now. :P

23.Do you drive?
not legally...? hehe

24.Do you have a job?
freelancer.

25.Do you make fun of people?
hahaha... *guilty*

26.Do you think dreams eventually come true?
if you work hard to make them come true, they most definitely can.

27.Fave thing to do?
watch DVDs all day loooooong.

28.Favorite musician?
deheemn. this is hard. uhm...... i hold alicia keys in highest regard at the moment.

29.Fave breakfast?
tapsilog. :)

30.Fave Candy?
gummy worms/bears

31.Fave person?
right now, it's my year-old nephew, matt. :) he's just completely adorable.

32.Favorite body parts of the opposite sex:
nape. yummmmm. :P

33.Favorite food?
kahit ano, dude... kakainin ko.

34.Go to the movies or rent?
films are made for the big screen.

35.Have you ever moved?
a few times, yes.

37. How's the weather right now?
chilly. nice weather. :)

38.Hug or kiss?
*hug!*

39.Last person you talked to on the phone?
sancho.

41.Single or taken?
single. :)

42.What are you doing tomorrow?
orientation at APFI

43.What are you doing later?
gonna hit the sac...?

44.What do you drink?
water, usually. :P

45.What's your bedtime?
don't have one. hehe.

46. What's your name backwards?
CIM.

47.Who do you talk to the most online?
red. hehe

48. Latest realization?
old habits reeeeeeeeally die hard. :P

hiphip?!?! HORAAAAY!!!!

i cannot believe it's 2005. it's friggin 2005!!!!! wheeeeeee!!!!!!!


my brother in law's mom (who is very chinese) says that this year is predicted to be a good one for the roosters (yay! good luck coming our way, chickens!). will get the 411 from her soon and tell you guys about it. meanwhile, this should do...

2005: YEAR OF THE GREEN CHICKEN

we had a blast (literally) this year since the Tatad-To boys were with us. it was their first time to witness the semi-wild and lavishly explosive way (a.k.a. "pinoy style") of celebrating the new year. they gawked, oooh-ed, and aaaah-ed over the amazing pyrotechnics of our chinese neighbors. raph had so much fun with the luces, watusi, and 2-minute fountains (i know, right? two minute fountains... sumkinduva pathetic.) that mom bought for the par-tey. matt was surprisingly brave and didn't cry at all over the noise. he kept going "wow." (in his ultra low voice) while pointing towards the sky, as though directing his carrier to bring him to the light. hahaha! it was insanely cute. and soooo much fun.

of course, the midnight feast was also great. very low-key, like our noche buena on the 25th, but we had yulo strawberry shortcake and yellow cab pizza (thanks els!) on the menu. frankly... that's all that really mattered. heehee.


tha sistahs: ate er, gyeb, moi...



...and raphael's covered face.




granny, won't you light my fire...?


"wooah... firewoooorks...."






tita mic and matt




the look-alikes: lolo and matt


the To family


media noche: strawberry shortcake, pizza, and others. :P
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!!